Any Curve Street residents able to sleep knowing Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz are just a few hundred yards away might get woken up late Friday night by the sound of a large explosion.

Rebecca Hyman

Any Curve Street residents able to sleep knowing Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz are just a few hundred yards away might get woken up late Friday night by the sound of a large explosion.

“It’s big. It’s dramatic, but it’s controlled,” said Anthony Sinonaitis, the lead pyrotechnician for the 20th Century Fox movie with the working title “Wichita” shooting scenes Thursday and Friday in a cornfield off Curve Street.

Sinonaitis told dozens of residents at a public information session for abutters last Thursday at the senior center he’d be overseeing the detonation of pyrotechnics as part of the scenes being shot in Bridgewater.

The scenes to be shot in Bridgewater depict the aftermath of an airplane crash in a cornfield.

Representatives from the film company declined to give out much information about the plot but did say they will not be blowing up the actual plane, which was trucked into the cornfield in pieces.

“They don’t want to let out of the bag what they’re doing. You’re going to have to come and see the movie. The fun of it is it’s going to happen in Bridgewater,” said Selectmen Chairman Stanley Kravitz, who has been working closely with the movie company.

The explosion, which will likely occur between midnight and 4 a.m. early Saturday, Sept. 26, will cause a fireball about 200 feet high, Sinonaitis said. He said it will be noisy and might rattle some windows, but otherwise residents shouldn’t feel it.

Bridgewater-Raynham Regional High School senior Erin Pochay of Curve Street said she’s not worried about the noise. She’s planning a “sleepover” for her friends on the nights of the shooting, but she said they won’t be getting much sleep. She doesn’t want to miss any of the excitement just in case they can see anything from her house.

“I’ll be up the whole time,” said Pochay, who turned out for the information session with several friends eager to ask the production crew about the movie business.

Jennifer Elias, also a B-R student and a budding actress, asked Assistant Location Manager Hyunsoo Moon after the meeting who is the most famous person he’s ever met.

Moon said the production side of the business isn’t as glamorous as most people think. Probably the most famous person he’s ever actually talked to is Christopher Walken, Moon said.

The conversation went something like this, Moon said, “I asked him, ‘How’s the heater?’ and he said, ‘Yeah, it’s fine.’”

Moon said the warm reception the crew has received from the people of Bridgewater has been “pretty exciting.”

He said he picked Bridgewater by driving around looking for a cornfield. He then talked to the owner of the land and one thing lead to another, he said.

His boss, Supervising Location Manager Kokayi Ampah, said Bridgewater residents should be proud of their town.

“This is what we’re always trying to duplicate. This really is hometown U.S.A. I’m talking about the architecture. I’m talking about the streets, the clapboard homes. It’s a full-scale back lot,” Ampah said.

Deputy Fire Chief Thomas Levy said he has a lot of confidence in the movie crew’s ability to handle the pyrotechnics safely and responsibly.

He said the movie company pulled all the correct permits. Water will be brought in by tanker truck since there’s no hydrant on the site. No explosives will be left behind. At first light, the fire department will do a site walk for unexploded ordnance.

“As far as some of you, it’s once in a lifetime to tell people what happened in your neighborhood, but to us it’s work,” Levy said.